With a beacon at its peak to ward off aircraft, the spire will provide public transmission services for television and radio broadcast channels that were destroyed in the 9/11 attack.

Workers Install Base of WTC Spire

Workers using two giant cranes on the 104th floor roof of One World Trade Center installed the first piece of the spire that will make it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. (Published Tuesday, Jan 15, 2013)

Overlooking the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, One World Trade Center is scheduled to open for business in 2014.

The tower is at the northwest corner of the site, which is well on its way to reconstruction with the 72-story 4 World Trade Center and other buildings.

One World Trade Center is already New York’s tallest building and will become the tallest in the Western Hemisphere when the final pieces of its spire are attached, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The structure will top out at 1,776 feet in a reference to the year the Declaration of Independence was adopted by Congress. But the tallest in the West designation won't be official until the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat signs off, NBC News reported. If the council doesn't count the building's spire as an "architectural top," One World Trade Center would rank third in the Western Hemisphere behind Willis Tower and the Trump International Hotel & Tower, both in Chicago.